Social Media: Where to find resources

Social Media Monday is a weekly feature that helps businesses and consumers understand how to use social media tools to their best advantage. This week, The San Diego Union-Tribune’s social media specialist Rob Hopwood (@sdutHopwood) share tips on social media for beginners.

Social media used to be dismissed as a fad. No more. Now, more and more professionals realize social media is critical to success.

At a recent workshop, a participant asked where he could go to learn more about social media. The good news for him and others is that San Diego is full of resources.

She’s right. For this week’s column, I asked people who are part of that community to share some of their tips and resources.

“The best way to learn social media is to try it out,” says Natalie Wardel (@nataliewardel), marketing coordinator for the Metropolitan Transit System (@sdmts). “The more you get out there the more you learn how it works.”

Anderson says those who want to learn how to use Twitter should open an account and listen to the social media conversation. To do this, search for your company and/or keywords, and then read the tweets, or messages, that people post. Use what you learn to develop a social media strategy.

“Remember it’s not all about you, and people are there to find value,” Anderson says. “Find what your fans find valuable and provide them with that type of information.”

Another way to learn is to watch someone who is good at it. See what that person does, then adapt it for yourself, advises Jan Percival (@ScribePR), the president of Scribe Communications. Some people who use Twitter well, according to her, are Caron Golden (@carondg), a local food blogger; Gayle Falkenthal (@PRProSanDiego), the president of the Falcon Valley Group, a local PR firm; and voiceofsandiego.org’s writers and editors.

Becky Carroll (@bcarroll7), the founder of Petra Consulting Group and social media correspondent for NBC San Diego, says local colleges and universities offer social media classes. She teaches “Marketing via New Media” at the University of California San Diego.

One of my suggestions is to go to your local bookstore, and browse the business and computer aisles. Look for books with Twitter, Facebook, Social Media, YouTube, LinkedIn or Blog in their titles. Some good books include “Trust Agents” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith; “Six Pixels of Separation” by Mitch Joel; and “The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web” by Tamar Weinberg.

Join the conversation: Are you a social media professional in San Diego County? We’re looking for tips and advice. Contact Money Editor Diana McCabe on Twitter @mcdiana or the U-T’s social media specialist Rob Hopwood @sdutHopwood.